The Northern Ireland Assembly yesterday faced into a marathon two-day session of debate on 71 standing orders drawn up by a cross-party committee to regulate the future functioning of the Assembly.
The joint chairman of the standing orders committee, Mr Fred Cobain (UUP, North Belfast), said drafting the orders would give members a "greater feeling of ownership" of the Assembly. The committee had largely worked in consensus to produce the report despite some "ups and downs". The Assembly has functioned under limited initial standing orders drafted by the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, for the last nine months.
The Democratic Unionist Party tabled 70 of the 87 amendments to the report. The deputy party leader, Mr Peter Robinson, (DUP, East Belfast) said some were minor corrections to the text and needed no debate while other amendments were more "probing". They were necessary if the report was to "stand the test of time".
The First Minister, Mr David Trimble, said each amendment should be debated individually. The Initial Presiding Officer, Lord Alderdice, said this would force the chamber to sit until 10 p.m. or later for up to three sessions.
Calls for greater parliamentary scrutiny of the office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister came from both sides of the chamber yesterday. Sinn Fein, Alliance and the UK Unionist Party all expressed concern that there was no provision in the report for the formation of a statutory committee to check the powers of the central office of Mr Trimble and Mr Seamus Mallon.
Mr Conor Murphy, (Sinn Fein, Newry and Armagh) said the absence of such a committee rendered the Assembly powerless in the face of the central office. He said an amendment to the Northern Ireland Act, which prohibited the setting-up of such a committee, should be considered.
Mr Robert McCartney (UKUP, North Down) advocated a strong committee system to exercise control over the executive.
Mr Seamus Close, the Alliance deputy leader, said the need for every member to adopt a unionist, nationalist or other designation should be removed from the Assembly's standing orders, as it encouraged the institutionalisation and perpetuation of "tribalism".